THE GOD-MAN The Life, Journeys and Work of Meher Baba with an ...

THE PERIOD OF WORLD TRAVEL 105this idea must be eradicated, and the Truth experienced, before the elimination of self-interest ispossible."I intend, when I speak, to reveal the One Supreme Self which is in all. This accomplished, theidea of the Self as a limited, separate entity will disappear, and with it will vanish selfinterest..."It has been asked why I have remained silent for seven years, communicating only by meansof an alphabet hoard, and why I intend to break my silence shortly, and it might be asked, in viewof what has just been stated, what relation my speaking will have to the transformation of humanconsciousness....""When the God-Man speaks, Truth is more powerfully manifested than when he uses eithersight or touch to convey it. For that reason Avatars usually observe a period of silence lasting forseveral years, breaking it to speak only when they wish to manifest the Truth to the entireuniverse. So, when I speak, I shall manifest the Divine Will, and world-wide transformation ofconsciousness will take place."Baba had said that he would speak at Hollywood on 13 July, and now said that it was firstnecessary for him to visit China. He left by the Monterey for Honolulu on 4 June. Before leavinghe was invited to see Marie Dressler at her house, where he stayed some time, and then gavenumerous instructions to those of his American and English disciples who had accompanied himthus far and were told to return home. The stay at Honolulu was for two days, when Baba saidthat he did not intend to return to California. He arranged for his English secretary to return toLos Angeles, and thence back to Europe.Baba sailed in the Empress of Japan to Shanghai, which was reached on 22 June, where hewas met by an English disciple, a Professor at Nanking University. The following is from hisaccount of this visit:Immediately we had had tea Baba said that he wished to go round the city and mix with theChinese crowds. I had had very little experience of Baba's ways and was still rather awkward inhis presence. I took them along the Bund, and from the French settlement by tram through theBritish to the war-stricken districts near the North station, thinking it would interest them. Not atall. There were not enough people. We took a tram back and saw Nanking Road, the nowbrightly lit Chinese stores, Chungking Road, racecourse, along Tibet Road. The streets weredensely packed with long-gowned clerks and short-coated coolies, endless rickshawpullers withcheerful faces and poverty-stricken appearances beseeching us to ride not walk; the